Editor's Note

Dear Reader, The first truly hot days of the year have come, teasing us with the promise of the summer to come. But for now, we are still in the thick of the semester, and we have another issue for you… In this week’s scrut, JL and STB write about the Harvard Management Company’s purchases of Brazilian farmland. They talk to two people who live near Harvard-owned land — Ariomara “Mara” Alves Pessoa and João Henrique Pereira Mendes. Alves Pessoa and Pereira Mendes explain that large-scale farmers that come to their regions displace people and contaminate the water and soil. Harvard made these purchases to grow its endowment, raising questions about whether the University can continue to justify its massive endowment. Kudos to them for being so diligent in analyzing complex foreign land policy, handling complicated fact-checking, and doing interviews in a foreign language — and a big thank you to JPRF for all the hours spent translating those interviews. SG and CJK talk to Aliyah S. Collins about the Eco-Healing project, which she started to help students at HBCUs mentally recover from climate disasters. RCG and CSE go to a talk by Tommy Orange, author of “There There,” where they get to hear about his next book, “Wandering Stars,” and how his background as a musician influences his writing. ASG learns about Conflux, a new student group interested in art tech. Beloved Math 22 professor, Dusty E. Grundmeier is leaving next year; CL and RHDN went to talk to him about teaching and his next steps after Harvard. CSE writes about learning to overcome the competition and jealousy in her relationship with her twin sister, reflecting on how, ultimately, they are each other’s biggest supporters. Venn diagrams are back! This time, iconic duo HD and MG take on another iconic duo: Cascada’s “Everytime We Touch” and your dhall crush. SJ covers the death of Let’s Go, a travel guide book series that used to be produced by students working for Harvard Student Agencies. MMFW asks Ian J. Miller 15 questions about his work as a history professor, Cabot’s faculty dean, and Cabot historian. JGH graces the new crossword tab (thank you JYY and KL!) with our first online crossword — "Timber!" Go complete it! KSG delivers a beautiful endpaper about her experience joining ultimate frisbee at Harvard and the joys of learning something new. Thank you to GRW for tackling the longest CQs ever while scrut proofing, and to EY for lending us HMC expertise. Thank you to SS, SET, SCS, MHS, MQ, JH, and JJG for a lovely maestro as always, and, especially, for dealing with our last-minute graphic and photo requests. Thank you to BLK for nostalgia and scrut proofing and helping with comment requests, and to SX (that is, Slaymei Xu) for being so slay, and as always, for proofing. And, of course, thank you AHL — for golden and regular Oreos, fantastic scrut edits, and for putting so much into this magazine, day in, day out. FM Love, IYG & AHL